Meenal Ashtikar, head of customer insight and analytics at Acrotrend, on tech trends for event organisers and managers to prepare for.

As every event professional knows, live events are more important than ever: They provide unique opportunities for buyers and sellers to come face to face, get ‘up close and personal’ and establish real relationships.

Wayne Morris, general manager for EMEA at Guidebook says a cultural shift is needed in the events industry to make technology work to its full potential.

We ran a couple of pieces of research last year, looking specifically at app usage in the events industry. Our first piece revealed that 63 per cent of global events aren’t using a mobile app, while a follow up study showed that of those that had used an app, 90 per cent achieved a positive ROI.

Martin Clarke, NEC marketing director asks the industry: Are we selling tickets or an experience?

Although most UK trade shows do not ‘sell tickets’ the way consumer shows do, trade show organisers have been gradually adopting ideas from them, recognising that trade visitors value a good experience as much as any consumer.

As the industry debates the notion of virtual events, Rick van Rijthoven CEO, MOVE tells us to embrace the internet, attract more (online) visitors and prepare for the next generation.

Trade fair organisers and expo centres do not appear to be entirely up to the challenges presented by the changes in their industry. The decrease in the number of visitors, changing visitor behaviour and the rise of online platforms are important developments to which very few of them are able to respond.